Category: News

Michael Guerin, Programme Manager of the Smart Docklands initiative, was delighted to attend the 17^th annual Platform IoT Conference, held in Ho Chi Minh city, in November 2017.

As an invited speaker, Michael was delighted to have the opportunity to speak to over 500 delegates, from more than 100 companies from across the globe, about some of the key IoT innovations that have helped to make Dublin one of the world’s leading Smart cities.

While the topic of Michael’s discussion was ‘Smart Dublin – Collaborations both internal and external’, this highly prestigious and truly global IoT event represented an incredible opportunity for him to share the work ‘Pervasive Nation’ are doing as Ireland’s national IoT test bed.

‘Pervasive Nation’ is Ireland’s IoT Testbed, operated by CONNECT, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks. Headquartered at Trinity College, Dublin, its core objective is to build an Internet of Things testbed of scale which ultimately becomes a resource for industry, government, and academia in the areas of research and innovation.

Dublin, as Michael’s talk alluded to, is the perfect testbed for IoT innovations simply because of its size: as a city of just under 2 million people, it is both big enough and small enough to be the ideal location in which to pilot new city services and IoT solutions.

But Dublin’s success as an IT innovation hub, on a global scale, cannot just be attributed to its small size. In reality, it’s the result of a combination of different factors. For example, it’s now home to 9 of the world’s top 10 global software companies, it’s ranked as the world’s third best city for innovation and is #7 on the list of Europe’s top 15 biggest startup cities.

For more on Smart Dublin, visit https://smartdocklands.ie/

For more on ‘Pervasive nation’, visit www.connectcentre.ie

For the full speaker line-up, visit http://iotbusiness-platform.com/past-events/2017-vietnam-report/

For more on Platform IoT Conference, Ho Chi Minh, visit www.iotbusiness-platform.com/iot-vietnam/

SmartImpact is a network which allows the ten smart-city members to meet on a regular basis, to develop action plans that will make each of the cities smarter, better, and more aligned.

The most recent event, which took place in the wonderful city of Eindhoven over two days, was the penultimate network meeting ahead of the group’s final conference, to be held in Manchester on 20th March.

While meetings are always highly interactive and designed to promote shared learnings, their purpose is not to focus on matter so technology, but on governance structures and business models.

However, while out and about exploring this great city, I was hugely impressed by some of the smart initiatives I encountered during my visit – and the following three, in particular, caught my eye:

1. Strijp-S: the creative city

Built on the site of the old Philips factory, Strijp-S is an extraordinary new project which aims to make Eindhoven – already known as the design city – the creative city of The Netherlands.

The enormous property within which this project has been created, consists of several historic buildings, all of which have been transformed into an incredible urban area which facilitates living, working, and relaxing – all within an inspiring and contemporary creative environment.

2. Sorama

Another really exciting new technology I encountered during my trip to Eindhoven was the Sorama ‘sound camera’. This revolutionary camera, which contains 64 microphones, instead of the single microphone traditionally associated with a traditional sound level meter, can be used to detect aggressive behaviour outside pubs and nightclubs. As a result, this smart device has the potential to make city centre streets safer for everyone.

3. The use of scent and light on city streets

Following research which suggests that scent and multi-coloured lighting can reduce aggressive behaviour on city streets, LED lamps that can vary in colour and light intensity, are already in use in a busy nightlife district of Eindhoven. The street, which attracts up to 15,000 people on weekend nights, is monitored by sensors and cameras mounted along its length. Aggregated data on visitor numbers, noise levels, social media activity and other variables including the weather are processed to predict when the mood might turn ugly.

The use of scent as a means of management behaviour represents the next stage of this human behaviour & smart technology project. Research suggests that because smell goes directly to the brain, researchers believe that it has the potential to be an even more effective crowd control tool than light.

Find out more about the concept and rationale behind this ‘scent and light’ project at https://www.dezeen.com/2018/01/04/design-terrorism-talk-eindhoven-pioneers-use-scent-light-influence-behaviour-people-in-crowds/

Smart Docklands is a smart city project that is funded by Smart Impact under the Urbact EU funding scheme.

But first, what exactly is ‘Smart Impact’, and what is ‘Urbact’?

The Urbact EU programme is the name given to the European Territorial Cooperation programme, the aim of which is to foster sustainable integrated urban development in cities across Europe.

Operating for almost 15 years, Urbact’s mission is to enable cities to work together and develop integrated solutions to common urban challenges, in a collaborative environment that encourages learning an problem solving through a networking structure.

Following the success of Urbact 1 and 11,  Urbact 111 – the current iteration of the programme which runs from 2014 to 2020 – has been developed to continue to promote sustainable integrated urban development and contribute to the delivery of the Europe 2020 strategy.

The key strategic objectives of the current programme are as follows:

1. Capacity for Policy Delivery: to improve the capacity of cities to manage
sustainable urban policies and practices in an integrated and participative way

2. Policy Design: to improve the design of sustainable urban policies and practices
in cities

3. Policy Implementation: to improve the implementation of integrated and
sustainable urban strategies and actions in cities

4. Building and Sharing Knowledge: to ensure that practitioners and decision-
makers at all levels have access to knowledge and share know-how on all aspects
of sustainable urban development, with the goal of improving urban development
policies

Smart Impact, is a two-year programme (May 2016-May 2018), funded by the European Commission through its Urbact programme.

The project is made up of 10 smart city partners – including Dublin – under the guidance of lead partner, Manchester City Council.

Supported by the Fraunhofer Institute, a leading research body and smart city authority, the key objectives of the ten partner organisations are as follows:

1.  Develop models of how organisations can adapt their structures to deliver smart cities
2.  Explore how to finance smart solutions through co-investment strategies
3.  Develop and support innovation ecosystems within cities
4.  Explore the role of both regulation and incentives
5.  Better understand how data integration and data platforms can support the smart cities

*For further information about Urbact and the Smart Impact programme, visit
www.urbact.eu/smartimpact

Vodafone Ireland, in partnership with Dublin City Council (DCC), have announced that Vodafone’s Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network has been selected as a key connectivity enabler to the Docklands Smart District – part of the wider Smart Dublin initiative.

A first of its kind in Ireland, the Docklands Smart District encourages innovation in the area by bringing together leading technology companies, research centres and other agencies with a focus on deploying the latest smart city innovations and connectivity across the quarter.

One of the first technologies being deployed on Vodafone’s NB-IoT network is a new product innovation which focuses on flood monitoring and response. Voguetek, an Irish SME based in Meath is developing low cost connected sensors that will use the new network to communicate potential gully blockages to the council before they become a hazard. The technology has the potential to be used across the country in urban and rural areas.

“Smart technology has the potential to radically change the way we live and work in Ireland and is vital if we are to achieve our ambitions of being able to compete on a truly global stage. I want to commend both Vodafone and Dublin City Council on enabling an innovation programme of this scale, which not only has the potential to transform the day-to-day lives of every citizen, business and community in Dublin, but the benefits this can have across Ireland are limitless. Today’s announcement is a significant step forward in Ireland’s journey to becoming a world leader in the development and deployment of Internet of Things innovations.” Denis Naughten T.D., Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

Innovation Fund

Vodafone & Dublin City Council have also announced a new innovation fund and support initiative worth over €50,000 for start ups that would like to utilise the new network test bed to develop Proof of Concept projects. It will be administered by Smart Dublin and DCU Alpha.

The supports and services on offer will include:

• API access to the new Vodafone nationwide NB-IoT network.
• Hardware, chip sets and evaluation kits to enable access.
• Sim connectivity including data bundles.
• Access to technical specialists in Vodafone.
• Access to physical infrastructure and municipal planning and engineering expertise from Dublin City Council.
• Prototyping services and desk space in DCU Alpha for any connected hardware PoC’s.
• Follow on funding pathways for development of any successful PoC’s
• Access to complementary test environments (e.g. Maritime IoT and SatCom IoT) for interoperability testing.

Challenges

Calls to solve specific challenges will be announced through this page over the coming months.

Some examples are:

• Connecting the lifebuoys in Docklands and reduce theft and vandalism. Across Dublin City over 500 ring buoys and almost 300 ropes are damaged or stolen each year. A reduction in theft and vandalism will reduce the cost of maintenance and also help to solve safety concerns.
• Better understand movement and flows through the deployment of low cost beacon technologies. Can we better understand and manage the flows of people, bikes and vehicles?
• Environmental Monitoring. Delivering lower cost and dense deployments of sensors around the docklands e.g. air quality, noise, weather, rainfall, river levels etc.
• Smarter Building and Energy monitoring. Demonstrating smarter ways to measure and monitor energy usage.

For more information please email info@smartdocklands.ie